Story:The Wormhole
Commander Thaddeus Rice looked at the view screen showing the Klingon warship IKC Kah'tahk. Captain Fisher stood up," This is Captain Devon Fisher of the Federation starship USS Constitution, we are a science vessel here looking at some recent asteroid explosions here. We mean no harm whatsoever. Lower your weapons and return to Klingon space or we will have to fire." "No reply," Ensign Emily Crusher said from the Communications terminal. "Weapons at ready," said Fisher. Thaddeus stood up," Captain, the ship can overpower us, it would be best if we left the area." "I'm not willing to let the Neutral Zone treaty go to waste, Commander," the Captain looking back to Thaddeus. "It's against the nature of the Federation to be apart of breaking the treaty either," Thaddeus said. "Commander, do you need to be relieved of duty?" Thaddeus looked down, "No sir." "Captain, there firing!" yelled the navigator on duty. "Evasive maneuvers," Fisher said. It was too late the ship shook violently, it sent everyone to the floor. "Fire," Fisher said. "Torpedoes sent," the Tactical officer said," No use. They are shooting at our secondary hull. They knocked out our weapons along with engines. We're dead in the water." "Send a distress call," Thaddeus said looking to the frightened Emily Crusher. "Uh, y... yes, sir," she said panicking. "They're firing at the bridge!" said the tactical officer. "Evacuate!" Fisher yelled, "ship wide!" Ensign Crusher couldn't help, but give a few squeaks of fear. It was scarier then the Kobayashi Maru could ever be like. Thaddeus took the Ensign by the arm and dragged her out of the room and into the back hall. The next thing they knew, the bridge behind them had disappeared into a small fire burst and was dragged into a field of debris. The suction of space pulled Thaddeus and the Ensign into the debris field. Ensign Crusher was screaming as she was holding onto Thaddeus for dear life. Thaddeus had clamped his hand on a bar on the wall. One hand holding on that, and the other helping Crusher from her death. He saw a small bit on the roof where he could climb it like a ladder. He pulled as hard as he could to lift Crusher to the ceiling where she held on and started climbing and pulling herself together. Thaddeus followed close behind her. They soon got past a door which was on airlock. The fell off the roof ans straight to the ground. The door had a window. Thaddeus glanced out to see the USS Exeter fending off for the Constitution. Thaddeus got to a console, "Locate Thomas, Thaddeus II, and Isabelle Rice." The computer talked back, "They were in the destruction zones when the attack occurred." Thaddeus put his back to the wall, he saw the Ensign ran off to go check on other people. Thaddeus slid down thee wall until he hit the floor. He covered his face in sadness. A small bell was heard. After a few seconds it happened again. Thaddeus opened his eyes to see the view outside of his San Fransisco apartment. He saw the clock strike 1:35 PM. He got out of bed and walked to the door. He pressed a button on the panel next to it. The door opened to two people he's never seen before. Both of them were in Starfleet uniforms. "Yes?" "We have reason to believe that this is the residence of Thaddeus Rice," the woman of the two said. "I'm am not accepting any requests back into Starfleet," he started closing the door. He felt the door was stopped to see that the woman had stopped it with her shoe. "This isn't a request," she said," It's an opportunity." Thaddeus looked at the two officers. He then said," Come in." They walked into the apartment to see it was filled with trash and dirty close. "Please excuse the mess," he said. "I'm Aurora Dixon," she introduced. "Logan Franks," said the man. "So which ship are you representing?" Thaddeus asked. "We are actually looking for a Task Force Commanding Officer," Logan said. Thaddeus sat down and looked at the two in interest. "As you heard, and most likely saw," Aurora said looking out towards the Starfleet HQ," Earth and Vulcan were both attacked. On Vulcan, right before it's... destruction, three ships were destroyed." "Mhmm," said Thaddeus. "Starfleet has taken three ships out of construction and is going to name each one of those as another ship destroyed in the Battle for Vulcan," Aurora continued. "See, there are two other ships that will be in that group of ships. The USS Donatello, and the command ship, and the USS Endeavor. Aurora will be your First Officer, and I will be your engineer," Logan said. "So, you're offering a command on the Endeavor?" Thaddeus asked. "Precisely, and a promotion to Captain," Aurora said. "I can't accept." Logan stood up," About your wife?" "No, it's just, I can't," Thaddeus said standing up and staring out the window. Logan said, "So you're denying a request to a command of the newest ships in Starfleet." "Logan," said Aurora as she placed her hand on his. "Just to come back to this piece of..." "Logan," Aurora said interrupting, "I think it's time to go." The two walked to the door. Thaddeus looked back and said," I need to see my ship before I make an answer." Aurora smiled and turned around, "Logan, why don't you start up the shuttle?" ---- Thaddeus and Aurora walked out of the apartment building to the parking lot filled with shuttles. It was the normal foggy and cold day in San Fransisco. It has been at least a month since Thaddeus had left the building. "What's with short-fused?" Thaddeus asked referring to Logan. Aurora smiled. She then turned that into a small frown, "He's been doing everything he could to get your position. He was blown when Starfleet offered it to you." "I haven't accepted yet," Thaddeus said as he followed Aurora to the General Motors shuttle. "What took so long?" asked Logan as the two walked up. "I had to change," Thaddeus said showing him the different attire. "Let's go," Aurora said giving a stern face to Logan. The three piled in the four passenger shuttle and got their seat belts on. Logan soon took off and they went straight towards East. "Where is the ship being built?" asked Thaddeus looking at the interior of the slender car. "Drydock 12, it's right above New York City," Aurora answered. It only took five minutes before they reached the East coast, which they soon found the ginormous city. Thaddeus looked out to the Empire State Building being constructed another refit. Thaddeus, wide-eyed seeing how high it was, asked, "How many stories is it now?" "After this refit," Logan said, "I think it was about five hundred." "Pretty soon it's going to leave the atmosphere if they keep it up," Thaddeus exclaimed. The three soon found there way to a drydock, very small one, but a drydock. They soon saw a small, very sleek ship. They soon came closer to see the title on the nacelle. USS ENDEAVOR NCC-1607. It was clearly only four decks height, but even better looking than the Constitution class. The entire ship looked like a shrunk kitbash Constitution-Kelvin class hybrid. Logan pulled the shuttle into the shuttlebay in the Drydock. They all got their way out of the shuttle once it's landed. They soon got to the Observation corridor. "What do you think of her?" Logan said in amazement, it seemed it was the first time they saw the ship too. "Specs?" asked Thaddeus. "Four Decks, eight quarters, can exceed Warp Five. This is the first of it's class, so they haven't got field tests," Aurora explained. "How long do I have until she launches," asked Thaddeus. "As you can see, the exterior is done, they're finishing up on the insides," said Logan, "I'd say about three, four weeks tops." "So I have that much time to get Federation standards of physical help," said Thaddeus. "Ah, it's not that hard," said Logan. "But we'll need your reply by then," said Aurora. Thaddeus took a deep breath and was quietly staring at the Endeavor. He then looked up at Aurora, "You can tell Starfleet that I accept." Aurora smiled in joy, "Welcome aboard... Captain." They soon left the drydock and went back to Thaddeus' apartment, "We'll come back on the completion of the ship. Since you're initiated back into Starfleet, you can access logs or anything else." "Thank you," said Thaddeus. His new crew left the room. Thaddeus sat down and went on his computer. He got to crew biographies. He typed in twelve letters. E, M, I, L, Y, C, R, U, S, H, E, R. He got on her bio. He scrolled down to the tab saying: STATUS. Next to it was ACTIVE. He scrolled down to see her location. SAN FRANSISCO, EARTH. ---- He walked out of the apartment building, for the last time. He wore his new gold uniform. Trotting down the stairs from the entrance, he soon got to see a young woman. The woman had a very mature face. She looked familiar. It took a few seconds for Thaddeus to notice that he knew her. "Emily Crusher?" he asked. She smiled and walked up to him, "Roddenberry, now actually. I heard you were getting a promotion. The least I could was congratulate you." Thaddeus came to her, "I've been trying to contact you, but since I've left Starfleet, I couldn't get locations. Are you stationed at the Headquarters." She shook her head, "My husband is, well now he's going away on another assignment. We're moving there, me and my husband, and my son." "May I ask the ship?" "The USS Shakespeare. " "Shakespeare?" asked Thaddeus, "I'm the Commanding Officer of the Task Force." Emily soon found that it was about time to go. She gave the captain a hug and said, "Goodbye. It's most likely that we'll see each other. I better get back to help pack." "Bye," said Thaddeus standing stern as she let go. Aurora and Logan soon walked up as Emily walked away. They all looked at her walk away on the sidewalk. "Who's she?" pried Logan. "She was on my last assignment on the USS Constitution. We've both survived the attack and soon befriended each other," said Thaddeus. Both Aurora and Logan knew he was holding something back. They put it behind them. Aurora soon said, "We better go, you have a debriefing in fifteen minutes." "On to New York then," said Logan. They got in the shuttle and soon to Starbase 01. They got in to see four other Captains. "You have to mingle while we go and help on the launching protocols," Logan said walking away. "I've been gone for a while..." said Thaddeus making an excuse. "You'll do fine," She interrupted. She put her hand on her shoulder, "The briefing will start soon enough." She walked away. Thaddeus took a gulp as he looked to the others. They soon noticed their new commanding officer. One of them came up to the Captain. She was young and Orion. Oddly enough, she looked like a cadet. She smiled at Thaddeus and held out her hand, "Captain Gaila. If you're anything like the others, I'd like to explain that I was promoted to Captain after the Vulcan destruction because of being the only one out of two to survive." Thaddeus shook hands, "It seems that a lot of Cadets are getting Captaincy now." "Implying on Captain Kirk? He should be coming for the briefing today. I knew him at the Academy," she replied. After they all gave their names. Kalvan Stuart, Ussan Belaisa, Kandra Keax, Gaila, and Thaddeus sat down. The door soon opened to two people who walked in. One of them was a Vulcan, the other was a young woman. The Vulcan walked to a table and placed his suitcase on the table. "Thank you for making our acquaintance. I am Commander Spock, Captain Kirk couldn't make it today because of some troubles on the Enterprise. His replacement is Lieutenant Nyota Uhura." Nyota smiled at Gaila to see her smile back. "Each of you are assigned to a wormhole that just opened up," Spock said, "We've named it Endeavor, appropriately." Uhura took charge and said, "You're objective is to see how stable it is. If it seems like it won't collapse. You may proceed in. Keep your distance, or something could happen." Thaddeus made a small humph noise. "Excuse me?" Uhura said putting her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry, but I've explored five wormholes," said Thaddeus, "Like that's going to happen. Wormholes don't just suck you in." "It could possibly have the power," Spock said, "It isn't a normal wormhole. You will see later." "Anyways, your navigators are all streaming the coordinates now," Uhura continued. She looked at the time, "We were a little late, you're scheduled to launch soon. You might as well get to your ships." "Meeting dismissed," said Spock. Everyone soon left the room and to their individual starships. Thaddeus saw Gaila stop Uhura to say something. Thaddeus could just hear: "Uhura, please Jim to screw himself for me." ---- Thaddeus soon got a shuttle to the drydock holding the Endeavor. He found his way to the Observation Room, where six people were looking out the windows to the Endeavor. He instantly recognized that this would be his crew. "Captain," said Logan noticing Thaddeus walking in. Everyone stood toward Thaddeus in an honorable stance. Thaddeus soon noticed they were in the protocol duty pose when a captain comes for the first time. "At ease," he said. It was quite awkward for Thaddeus to get back to Starfleet standards. He'd put it in his head to soon get use to it. Everyone went back to looking at the Endeavor. Thaddeus went up to the two closest. Both looked Human, but he read from their records that one of them wasn't. "You must be the Berry's," stated Thaddeus. The two turned back. Thaddeus was instantly greeted by the lady of the couple. "Captain," she said, "I'm Duna, this is my husband, Francis." Thaddeus looked at the new security officer. He was intimidating. Thaddeus put that behind and smiled. "Excuse me, but I'm not quite familiar with your accent," said Thaddeus trying to figure out her race without being rude. "Tincoastan," she said, "We are relatively new to the Federation." "Are you genetically the same as Humans?" "Not quite, like Vulcans, we have enhanced strength," she explained. "That's part of the reason I married her," Francis said. "Oh, stop it," Duna joked. "Nice to meet you," Thaddeus said. He soon walked over to an Andorian. The Andorian looked to the Captain and gave a salute, "Um, Sir." "You must be Cadet Malithak ch'Tishtahan, correct?" guessed Thaddeus. "Ensign now, sir," said the Andorian, still holding his salute. Thaddeus looked to him, "At ease. And, it's Captain, not sir." "Yes, captain," said Malithak looking out the window, "I'm quite excited to fly her." "I excited to command her," said Thaddeus. "I've always dreamed of getting a command." "Every officer is. To tell you the truth, I'm nervous." "Is it as bad as it is on your first assignment?" "Worse," smiled Thaddeus. He walked off to greet his navigator. It was a man in later age, Thaddeus would guess around his fifties. "Lieutenant Irving Wright." Thaddeus knew Irving from the Constitution. Irving had left just before the attack. "Thaddeus," Irving smiled, "How did you end up getting the promotion before me?" "First you go through an attack," Thaddeus said, "Then you..." Thaddeus was interrupted by an announcer, "All waiting personnel, make your way into the ship." Thaddeus gulped in anxiety. The seven walked into the ship, each getting in their stations. Malithak and Irving were on the bridge with Aurora. Thaddeus had walked into the Bridge. "Captain on Bridge," reported Aurora. The bridge crew stood up in honor. "At your stations," said Thaddeus. He sat down in the chair. The captain's chair. It was a lifetime of work to get to it. He'd finally had felt it, with the command under his nose. "Sir, station reports clear to un-dock," Aurora said pressing the microphone in her ear. "Tell Logan to start the engines. Irving, set course out of drydock." The two followed his orders. "Engines are ready, we are coming out of the drydock," Irving reported. The ship slowly pulled out of the drydock. It was nearly a minute before they cleared it. "Meet with the rest of the fleet," Thaddeus commanded, "Set course to coordinates 398 point 34. Cruising velocity." "Course set," said Irving. "Engage." ---- "We are coming out of warp," Irving reported. "The rest of the fleet has arrived too," Aurora said turning from her console. Captain Thaddeus looked out the viewscreen as the ship turned to face the wormhole. The wormhole was a bright blue and purple it spun around in a vortex. The ship was about as big as the starbase they just left from. It was shaped as a hallow cone. "Aurora?" Thaddeus asked for her opinion. "It looks stable, no sign of..." Aurora silenced as a deep roar was heard. "Was that the engines?" asked Thaddeus. "Uh, no sir," replied Malithak," The engines are offline." "Sir, the wormhole is making a gravitational pull towards itself," Aurora reported. "We are being pulled in!" exclaimed Irving. "Reverse course. Aurora order the fleet to follow," Thaddeus ordered. "Engineering to Bridge," Logan said over the comm, "If we go to warp now, we could destroy the ship." "Understood," said Thaddeus. "I sent the memo to the other ships," Aurora said. "The wormhole is pulling harder," said Irving. "Structural integrity is decreasing sir," said Aurora. Just outside the Endeavor was the other, bigger ships. The USS Donatello lost of the nacelles. Helpless, the ship swung into the wormhole. "Captain to fleet," said Thaddeus, he took a short pause before continuing, "Take all engines offline." The ships flew in soon after the Donatello. The ship flew violently and the colorful lights from the outside shun on the ships. "Structural form is stable," said Aurora, "The wormhole's is too." Duna stumbled into the bridge, "What's going on?" "The wormhole has pulled us in," said Malithak. "Oh my," Aurora said as she looked down to a body lying on the floor, "Irving..." Thaddeus and Francis carried Irving to sickbay as the ship was still in the wormhole. They laid him carefully on a biobed. Duna took a scan of him quickly. She let out the breath she was holding in. Quietly she answered, "It's too late." Thaddeus walked out of the sickbay with no word. He walked on to the bridge were Aurora was sitting in his chair. Thaddeus shook his head. Aurora sighed and moved to her post. The quiet of the next five minutes were almost unbearable. Those five minutes ended with the starship showing stars again. Thaddeus looked to Aurora. "Wormhole closed, all five ships made it through," Aurora said. Malithak then said, "Sir, none of these stars are recognized."